Reviewing their position and prospects in the preceding year, the Paris Society thus express themselves :-" We have not labourers enough, and notwithstanding our most urgent efforts, a sufficient number cannot be had to supply the stations which different provincial ministers conjure us to occupy." With the most lively impression of the spiritual destitution of their country, and of the importance of the numerous openings for the preaching of the gospel, this society record "their fervent prayer that God will hear their cry, and dispose the hearts of those who have the ability," to afford them the means of carrying forward the great work committed to their association.

The Geneva Society, in a similar review of the part assigned to them in this great and holy work, remark, that conscious of their imperfections, and of the precarious extent of their resources to sustain their operations, they are constrained to acknowledge, with the deepest gratitude, the bounty of a gracious God, in supplying their wants hitherto. We have received the requisite means," they say, " because it has been given us to go forward in faith; not to be cast down when resources seemed to be failing; never to hesitate as to undertaking any work that has been plainly presented in the line of our duty, whether it be to found a new station, or send forth a new missionary, for the Lord has taught us to put our trust in him."

The Central Committee, leave these simple appeals to awaken the sympathy and stimulate the bounty of the friends of Protestant truth. The cause of the Sociétés Evangéliques is pregnant with all that concerns the honour of our common Lord and Saviour, and the eternal interests of the French people,-objects that ought to be dear to every Christian heart, and so important, at this eventful period, to the Protestant cause in our own country.

The Editor will now communicate such farther information as may shew his readers the nature of the work.

A large body of the ministers of the church of England, in 1834, who had become acquainted with

the state of the Swiss churches, marked their sympathy with the Evangelical Society of Geneva, by addressing to them the following epistle. It was signed by four hundred and fifty-three ministers.

'BELOVED Brethren,

'We, the undersigned ministers of the church of England having heard that, stedfast in your adherence to the gospel, you faithfully maintain its fundamental doctrines, the divinity of our blessed Saviour, the atonement which he made for sin, justification by faith alone, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, we cannot refrain from sending you the expression of our affection and esteem. We heartily pray for you, that in all your endeavours to spread the knowledge of Christ you may be enabled, through all difficulties, to evince his gentleness and meekness with his unconquerable zeal and boldness in the cause of God. We entreat him to sustain you under your trials by the consolations of his Spirit, and we beg to assure you that, looking upon those doctrines for which you contend as the very substance of the gospel, we and many others in our country are labouring to make them known. We earnestly desire to see your Christian efforts so blessed of the Lord that they may be productive of extended and lasting good to all those churches of the continent in which the French language is spoken.

Commending you to the grace and blessing of God, we remain your faithful and affectionate brethren.'

From more recent intelligence, down to June, 1838, the following accounts are taken:

It is highly gratifying to see the church of Scotland has

manifested a lively interest in this revival. A letter has been sent out to the society at Geneva from the Rev. Matthew Gardener, moderator of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, written at the request of the General Assembly. After deploring the state of Protestantism in some of the reformed churches of the continent, the reverend moderator continues," The members of the church of Scotland hail with delight, and with devout thanksgiving to God, the dawn of a brighter day-the commencement of a second reformation, from the wide-spread errors of the Neologian, the Arian, the Socinian, and Pelagian heresies; a reformation as necessary as the reformation from popery, and not less important and beneficial in its results. They have learned, with the most heartfelt pleasure, that in all the countries above mentioned, (France, Germany, and Switzerland,) there has been a return, more or less general, to the pure and spiritual doctrines of the word of God, and that truth is again beginning to prevail over the fatal and seductive heresies of the last and present centuries. They ascribe the blessed change to the sovereign grace of God in Christ Jesus, and to the effusion of his Holy Spirit on pastors and people. You may rest assured that your Christian brethren in this country will ever take a deep inte. rest in the Evangelical Society of Geneva, and in the School of Theology under its auspices," &c.

The society has been further gratified by an epistle from the Waldenses, dated St. Jean, 11th April, 1838, and signed by the Moderator and his colleagues. "It is with a feeling of lively satisfaction," they say, "and of praise to God, that we have read your expressions of brotherly love and sympathy for our vallies. Although we have nothing whereof to glory, for every good gift and grace cometh from above, still we esteem it a high honour that our ancestors were chosen of God to be the depositories of the faith, and that this precious deposit should have come down even to us. But as we value this precious gospel, to which we desire to be more and more attached, so do we wish also to see it make progress in the world; and we willingly give the right hand of fellowship to all those who adhere to this gospel, in every place. It is this which forms the bond of union between us and the Faculty of Theology at Geneva, which we regard as a faithful witness to the pure

gospel of Christ. We are bound, therefore, dear and honoured brethren, to give our approbation to the studies which our youths may be enabled to pursue in your academy. The Directory accepts with lively gratitude the offer you make us of your endowments," &c.

The work of evangelization, under the direction of the Genevan society, is in great activity in the departments of the Jura and the Saône et Loire. At Chàlons, the gospel has made real progress, under the care of Mons. le Pasteur Tertuz. On Easter Sunday, the Lord's Supper was celebrated, in presence of a great number of persons, Roman Catholics, who went to witness that ceremony for the first time in a reformed church; many of them were affected even unto tears, at the touching simplicity of the ordinance. The foundation stone of a new church has been laid; the collections amongst the Christians of Chalons alone, amount to 2,000 fr.; from 8,000 to 10,000 more are required. From the missionary station at Louhans, eleven sermons a-week are preached in different places at Brange a church has been built, and great success has attended the ministrations; at Sornay there have been several conversions and edifying deaths of believers; at Macon the fruits of faith are visible in many; and one of the new flock at Macon, a young woman, has become the mistress of a school. "We continue," writes Mons. Merle d'Aubigné, under date 18th July, 1838, "with the divine aid, to go on prosperously. To-morrow, if it please God, a chapel will be opened at Lons le Saunier, Chef-lieu of the department of the Jura. There has never been a Protestant church there since the reformation. The state of things there at present represents the two opposite principles in activity, throughout France; the municipal council, which represents the feelings of the country, has shewn itself favourable, and given the gratuitous use of a building to our evangelist: the Prefect, on the contrary, who represents the government, has made many difficulties; thanks be to God, these have been removed. It is nearly the same everywhere else. The people and the municipal authorities are in general for, and the organs of government, with the priests, against the gospel. The president of the consistorial church at Besancon will officiate at the "installation" and will consecrate the chapel by prayer. Mons.

La Harpe, one of the professors of our Theological school, and minister of the reformed church of France, will be present as our representative. Thus do we avoid all appearance of dissent, by connecting the new chapel with the established consistorial churches of France."

The sister institution at Paris is not less active and zealous ; and spreads its influence over a still wider field. The general meeting was held in Paris, being the fifth anniversary, on the 25th of April last; the report has been received. The agents are actively engaged at Arras, Bar-le-Duc, Brest, Gaubert, Grenoble, Marennes, Montargis, Nancy, Nerac, Pau, Rennes, Siouville, Strasbourg, Saint Denis, Saint Etienne, Saint Peray, Saint Quentin, Toulouse, Tours, Troyes, and Tullins; and in a more general manner in 14 departments. The expences of the Paris society have exceeded their receipts of last year, by 3,506 francs; or £140: upon this deficit the committee observes ; "It proves two things; the first redounds to the glory of God; viz. the great amount of our expenditure (79,270 francs) attests the extensive development which God has given to our labours. The second redounds to our shame; viz. the amount of our receipts bearing so little proportion to the wants of our society, shews that we are below the mark of that devoted zeal which the Lord hath set up for us."

Auxiliary associations have been formed at Toulouse, Basses Pyrenées, Strasbourg, and Nancy. The two important auxiliary associations of Guernsey and Jersey have contributed last year to the Paris society about 5000 francs. In many towns and villages the ministers complain that their chapels and places of worship are becoming too small to contain the increasing congregations, and that they are unable to comply with the numerous calls made upon their time and strength. "I am assailed on all sides," writes one of the preachers, "with requests for meetings; to secure a meeting, I am often applied to a month or six weeks beforehand. Lately, at M-, a large room could not contain all the people, being about an equal number of Roman Catholics and Protestants. At C, the person at whose house I had held my meeting, died, and I was on the point of going away, not having any other place. The Mayor of the "Commune," who heard me express my regret at this circumstance, besought me not to